System, device, and method of wirelessly controlling electronic devices and appliances

ABSTRACT

Devices, systems, and methods of wirelessly controlling appliances and electronic devices, such as ceiling fans, air conditioners, garage doors, or the like. A receive-only ceiling fan is wirelessly controlled by a proprietary remote control unit. A cloning unit is able to clone or duplicate the proprietary wireless signal, and to replay it or re-generate it in response to a triggering command that a user submitted via a smartphone or tablet; thereby enabling to control such appliances via mobile electronic devices. The cloning unit utilizes recording of the wireless signal payload and carrier frequency; wireless signal analysis; image analysis of the appliance or of the remote control unit; queries to a remote server to obtain properties of the proprietary wireless signal; or other techniques of signal analysis or duplication.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This patent application claims priority and benefit from U.S.provisional patent application No. 62/256,677, filed on Nov. 17, 2015,which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.

This patent application also claims priority and benefit from U.S.provisional patent application No. 62/339,793, filed on May 20, 2016,which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.

FIELD

The present invention is related to the field of electronic devices andhome appliances.

BACKGROUND

Millions of people around the world utilize mobile electronic devices,such as smartphones and tablets, in order to perform various activities.Such activities include, for example, browsing the Internet, sending andreceiving electronic mail (email) messages, taking photographs andvideos, engaging in a video conference, playing games, or the like.

Millions of households include various appliances and electric devices,for example, a fridge, a freezer, a microwave oven, a ceiling fan, anair conditioning unit, or the like. Such devices and their operationalfeatures are typically controlled via manual pressing of keys or buttonsthat are located on the appliance, for example, a numeric keypad of amicrowave oven, or a manual interface that allows a user to modify thetemperature settings of a fridge.

SUMMARY

Embodiments of the present invention comprise devices, systems, andmethods of wirelessly controlling various appliances and electricdevices, particularly via a smartphone or tablet.

For example, a receive-only ceiling fan is wirelessly controlled by aproprietary remote control unit. A cloning unit is able to clone orduplicate the proprietary wireless signal, and to replay it orre-generate it in response to a triggering command that a user submittedvia a smartphone or tablet; thereby enabling to control such appliancesvia mobile electronic devices. The cloning unit utilizes recording ofthe wireless signal payload and carrier frequency; wireless signalanalysis; image analysis of the appliance or of the remote control unit;queries to a remote server to obtain properties of the proprietarywireless signal; or other techniques of signal analysis or duplication.

Some embodiments may provide other and/or additional benefits and/oradvantages.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a schematic block-diagram illustration of a system, inaccordance with some demonstrative embodiments of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic block-diagram illustration of a cloning device andwireless signal duplicator, in accordance with some demonstrativeembodiments of the present invention.

FIGS. 3A and 3B are schematic block-diagram illustrations of additionalmodules of the system, in accordance with some demonstrative embodimentsof the invention.

DESCRIPTION OF SOME DEMONSTRATIVE EMBODIMENTS

The Applicant has realized that many households, as well as offices andother venues, already include various appliances that are controlledonly manually, or are controlled via a dedicated, proprietary, RadioFrequency (RF) and/or Infra-Red (IR) remote control unit; and suchdevices lack the ability to be controlled wirelessly over wireless RadioFrequency (RF) signal(s) that a smartphone or a tablet may be able towirelessly transmit.

The Applicant has realized that such legacy appliances may require ahardware-based modification, in order to make such legacy appliances tobe able to receive RF signals from a non-proprietary Remote Control (RC)unit or from other electronic devices, and/or to be wirelesslycontrolled via a portable device that comprises an RF transmitter (suchas, smartphone or tablet).

The Applicant has further realized that an IR remote control unit ofmany such appliances, may have a limited range; and/or may require aclear line-of-sight between the IR remote control unit and thecontrolled appliance; and/or may not operate when the IR control unit islocated in a first room whereas the appliance is located in anotherroom.

In accordance with some demonstrative embodiments of the presentinvention, a “listener” device may be provided to an already-existingvenue. The listener device may be battery operated, and/or may beconnected to an electric wall outlet. The listener device may listen to,or may capture, an RF or Infra-Red signal (or other wireless signal)that is transmitted by an appliance Remote Control (RC) unit towards anappliance; and may capture, record and/or analyze the signal (includingthe signal's payload and/or the signal's carrier); and may be able totransmit a duplicate signal, or a sufficiently-similar signal, in orderto control the appliance. The listener device may transmit such wirelesscommands to the appliance, in response to receiving an RF signal from asmartphone or tablet; and/or in response to receiving, via Wi-Fi orother wireless communication protocol, a message (e.g., a TCP/IPmessage) indicating that a user that operates such smartphone or tabletdesires that the command be transmitted to the appliance. Accordingly,some embodiments may enable a user to control appliances, via asmartphone or a tablet, or via other suitable devices, such assmart-watch or fitness-watch, an Augmented Reality (AR) helmet orhead-gear or glasses or equipment, a Virtual Reality (VR) helmet orhead-gear or glasses or equipment, a gaming device, or the like.

The present invention may provide a custom “App” (e.g., application forsmartphone, tablet, or other mobile device or electronic device)enabling a user to record and play-back any wireless remote controlsignal, including but not limited to a Radio Frequency (RF) remotecontrol signal, an Infra-Red (RF) remote control signal, and/or othersuitable wireless control signals that may be used by various types of“remote control” units that are typically used for controlling variousdevices and/or appliances, e.g., a ceiling fan; a desk fan; a floor fan;a window fan; an air conditioning unit to system; a heating unit orsystem; a cooling system or unit; an HVAC system or unit; a garage door,or a garage door opener, or a garage door unit or system; a fire-place;a light-bulb; a light fixture, lamp, chandelier, or other illuminationunits; a kitchen appliance; a hot tub or a spa system or a Jacuzzi unitor system; an indoor or an outdoor swimming pool; a heating unit of aswimming pool or of a hot tub; a system that produces or that modifiesone or more features of a swimming pool or of a hot tub (e.g., watertemperature, heating level, salt level, chlorine level); a system thatcontrols one or more features of a bathtub or a shower or a bathroomsystem; or the like.

The present invention may further provide a unique combination of: (a)App-based wireless control of a device, and (b) web-based or Internetdatabase, and (c) the ability to achieve full RF recording.

In a demonstrative embodiment of the present invention, an RF receiveris scanning frequency bands in high resolution, and identifies thecarrier frequency of the remote control signal that is being recorded orthat is intended to be recorded.

Reference is made to FIG. 1, which is a schematic block-diagramillustration of a system 100, in accordance with some demonstrativeembodiments of the present invention.

System 100 may comprise one or more appliances 110 or electric devicesthat are capable of being controlled wirelessly; for example, a ceilingfan 111, and an air conditioner 112. Optionally, each such appliance 110may comprise a wireless receiver, for example, a wireless RF receiver;and optionally one or more antennas.

System 100 may further comprise one or more conventional ormanufacturer-original or proprietary wireless Remote Control (RC) units120, that are able to wirelessly control the appliance(s) 110, bywirelessly transmitting a particular pre-defined wireless RF signal(e.g., in response to a user command, when the user operates the remotecontrol unit). For example, a dedicated or proprietary fan RC unit 121may control the ceiling fan 111; and a dedicated or proprietary airconditioner RC unit 122 may control the air conditioner 112.

System 100 may further comprise a Duplicator 130, which may be a cloningunit able to “listen” to, or able to monitor, receive and/or record, awireless RF signal that is being transmitted by the conventional RFremote control unit towards the appliance. Cloning Logic/Circuitry 133may be able to store, analyze, replicate, duplicate, emulate, simulate,generate and/or re-construct, at a different time (e.g., subsequently,when the conventional RF remote control unit is not operational or isabsent from the venue) a similar or a sufficiently-similar or anidentical RF wireless signal that is transmitted to the appliance andthat triggers the appliance to operate or to modify its operationalproperties in response to such signal. The Duplicator 130 may further bereferred to as a “listener” unit, or as a “cloning unit” or a “cloningdevice”.

The Duplicator 130 may comprise a wireless receiver 131, able to receivea triggering signal directly or indirectly from one or more controllingdevices 140, for example, a smartphone 141 or a tablet 142. Thetriggering signal may be transmitted wirelessly from the controllingdevice 140 to the Duplicator 130, directly over a local Wi-Fi link, ordirectly over a local IR link, or directly over a local Bluetooth link,or directly over a local ZigBee link, or indirectly via a router or arouting network or via the Internet or TCP/IP communication (e.g., thecontrolling device 140 may wirelessly send or upload, to a remoteserver, a signal indicating a command directed to the appliance 110; andthe remote server may then transmit to the Duplicator 130 a signalindicating that the command was received at the remote signal, andfurther identifying which command it is).

Upon wirelessly receiving such triggering signal at the wirelessreceiver 131 of the Duplicator 130, a wireless transmitter 132 of theDuplicator 130 may transmit towards the appliance 110 a suitablewireless signal (e.g., IR signal, RF signal, ZigBee signal, Bluetoothsignal, or the like), that indicates a command to modify an operationalproperty of the appliance 110.

Optionally, in addition to a Primary duplicator unit (e.g., Duplicator130), one or more additional units may be utilized in a single venue (orin multiple venues), for example, located in different rooms of a samehouse (or office), or located in different floors of a same house (oroffice), or the like. Optionally, a primary duplicator unit may receivepower from a wall-based electric outlet; whereas a secondary duplicatorunit may receive power from a similar wall-based electric outlet and/orfrom an internal battery. For demonstrative purposes, a secondaryduplicator 135 is shown, e.g., a “Pico” unit, optionally operating as asignal repeater and translator (or converter) from RF signal to IRsignal and/or from IR signal to RF signal (e.g., operating as a bridgeunit or an intermediary converter unit), signal range extender, signalamplifier, signal re-broadcaster, signal re-transmitter, and/or signalrelay unit, to extend or relay or re-transmit or amplify the originalsignal that is originally transmitted or originally generated ororiginally analyzed by the primary duplicator 130. In some embodiments,optionally, the primary duplicator 130 may capture and may analyzewireless signals that control the ceiling fan; and may transmit to thesecondary duplicator 135 data enabling such secondary duplicator toautonomously re-generate or transmit a suitable wireless signal tocommand the operational properties of the ceiling fan; withoutnecessarily having analysis units in the secondary duplicator 135,thereby enabling lower cost, smaller form factor, and battery-basedoperation of such secondary duplicator 135 having a “thin”implementation compared to the primary duplicator 130.

Reference is also made to FIG. 2, which is a schematic block-diagramillustration of such “Duplicator” or a cloning device 200, in accordancewith some demonstrative embodiments of the present invention. Cloningdevice 200 may comprise a power source 201 (e.g., internal battery;recharge-able battery; and/or connection to an electric power outlet), aprocessor 202, and a memory unit 203.

The user may use the App on his controlling device (e.g., smartphone,tablet) to interact with the cloning unit 200, and to notify the cloningunit 200 that a cloning/programming process is starting. The user mayspecify the type of appliance or device (e.g., air conditioning unit;ceiling fan) and/or the function that is being cloned (e.g., turn on;turn off; increase speed; decrease speed; increase temperature; decreasetemperature), by selecting options from the App on the controllingdevice (e.g., via a drop-down menu interface, or by using a step-by-stepwizard, or other user interface). It is noted that the terms “cloning”or “duplicating” as used herein, may include any suitable type ofreplicating or simulating or emulating of signals; re-generating signalsfrom scratch, or reconstructing signals from scratch; recording and thenre-broadcasting a signal, or a part of a signal; programming orre-programming a transmitter to generate or to transmit a signal basedon extracted properties of another signal or based on other signalproperties; performing conversion or translation of a first signal(e.g., an RF signal) to a second signal (e.g., an IR signal), or viceversa; a combination of the above (for example, partiallyre-transmitting a pre-recorded signal, and partially reconstructing anew signal or an additional signal based on analysis of signalproperties); generating and/or transmitting of a compatible, or asufficiently-compatible signal, that is able to cause similar oridentical results to those obtained by transmission of the originalsignal; or the like.

Once the wireless RF signal is detected by a wireless receiver 204 ofthe cloning device, it may operate a Signal Analysis Unit 205 to analyzethe signal in real time; and/or it may store the signal in a storageunit 206, and may perform near-real-time analysis of the stored signal,by the Signal Analysis Unit 205. For example, a Modulation SchemeDetector 207 may detect or identify the type of modulation scheme thatis used by the RC unit of the appliance; and/or a Signal Payload andCarrier Recorder 208 may record and store the whole entire RF signalthat the RC unit transmits towards the appliance, including its payloadas well as its carrier frequency.

In some embodiments, in order to record the wireless signal, the cloningdevice may need to detect the modulation scheme of the wireless signal,its estimated bandwidth, and/or its central frequency (e.g., notnecessarily its carrier frequency, since sometime there is no singlecarrier). Once the cloning device has sufficient confidence (e.g.,relative to a pre-defined confidence threshold value) of the modulationof the signal, the signal is sampled using a Software Defined Radio(SDR) module or unit, comprising a down-converter and an Analog toDigital Converter (ADC). The ADC sampling rate is configured to behigher or much higher than the transmission bandwidth (e.g., the maximumbandwidth or the maximum typical bandwidth) of the proprietary remotecontrol unit. The digital data is being stored in the memory unit of thecloning device on the fly, as it is being demodulated/converted todigital.

Optionally, a Recording Commencement Unit 217 may determine when orwhether to start the recording of data captured as a wireless signal(payload, carrier frequency). For example, the listening wirelessreceiver of the cloning device may be listening to noise (or mayobserver demodulated noise) that appears to be data, due to ambientconditions or environmental conditions or interference; and one or morecriteria may be used, taking into account the particular characteristicsof the venue in which the particular cloning device is located (e.g.,based on a spectrum survey) in order to set, modify, increase and/ordecrease a threshold value that indicates that the demodulated signal isindeed a wireless communication signal that should be recorded, ratherthan signal-like noise that should be ignored and discarded withoutbeing recorded.

Optionally, a Recording Length Modifier 218 may dynamically set, modify,increase and/or decrease the length of the recording of the wirelesssignal (payload, frequency); for example, based on real-time ornear-real-time analysis of the wireless signal that was recorded so far,and/or based on information that is already known about the type ofdevice being controlled (e.g., a first type of Appliance typicallyrequires recording of 3 seconds, whereas a second type of Appliancetypically requires recording of 7 seconds). For example, the cloningdevice may have preset rules for minimum required recording time,maximum required recording time, average recording time, and/or otherrules or threshold values based on the type of appliance whose RC unitis intended for cloning. Additionally or alternatively, the RecordingLength Modifier 218 may take into account one or more identifiedpatterns or already-known patterns of signals, or other already-known oralready-configured information about structure of types of signals,enabling the cloning device to efficiently recognize a start of asignal, an end of a signal, preamble(s) of signals, trailing zeros orupfront codes that commence a signal, appendix of signal(s) or tailingcode-words or tailing codes or appended codes or ending codes; therebyenabling the Recording Length Modifier 218 to ensure that the featuresor the content-portions of the wireless signal, that are important orrequired for suitable cloning, are indeed recorded. Optionally, duringthe recording, the cloning device may clean up (or partially discard)the beginning of the wireless signal, which may be cut in the middle; toavoid or to prevent a situation in which playback or transmission of thecloned signal would start with half-a-packet or half-a-frame or otherincomplete portion of a packet or a frame, which may cause undesired orunknown behavior at the wireless receiver of the appliance intended tobe remotely controlled.

The cloning device 200 may subsequently play-back the original,previously-recorded, wireless RF signal including its originalpreviously-recorded carrier, without distortion and/or without anymodification; via a Payload and Carrier Play-Back Transmitter 209, whichmay thus operate (or modify the operational properties of) the appliancein response to a triggering command received wirelessly from thecontrolling smartphone or tablet.

Additionally or alternatively, the cloning device 200 may subsequentlyplay-back the original, previously-recorded, wireless RF signalincluding its original previously-recorded carrier, but after performinga cleaning process or noise-filtering process or other enhancementprocess, which may be performed by a Carrier and Payload Cleaning &Filtering Unit 210 of the cloning device 200.

Additionally or alternatively, the cloning device 200 may utilize ade-modulator 211 to demodulate the wireless signal captured by thewireless receiver 204 of the cloning device 200 (namely, the wirelesssignal that was transmitted by the RC unit of the appliance); and mayrecord and store only the de-modulated signal (e.g., the data, thepayload that is carried within the wireless signal), without necessarilyrecording also the entire RF carrier, or with a partial recording (andstoring) of the RF carrier (e.g., recorded by a Partial Carrier Recorder212 that may operate to record the RF carrier only for a pre-definedtime-period, for example, 1 second or 3 seconds or K seconds); and maysubsequently utilize a Wireless Signal Re-Constructor 213 to re-produceor re-generate or re-construct the RF carrier and re-compose thewireless signal and re-transmit it to the target appliance when required(e.g., upon a command transmitted wirelessly by a mobile device of theuser, to the cloning device).

Some embodiments may utilize de-modulation and/or frequency domainanalysis, and may determine the modulation scheme of the wireless signalbased on the side bands and/or the configuration of the carrierfrequency. For example, a sideband(s) detector may detect the sidebands;and detection of carrier frequency having two sidebands indicates thatthe modulation scheme is Amplitude-Shift Keying (ASK) or On-Off Keying(OOK).

Additionally or alternatively, the modulation scheme may be detected orestimated, or candidate modulation schemes may be eliminated, based onan elimination scheme or by using trial and error process. For example,instead of (or in addition to) analyzing the frequency domain features,the cloning device may utilize an OOK detector; and the coherency of theoutput of the OOK detector may indicate whether the wireless signalappears to be properly modulated data (or conversely, noise).

Additionally or alternatively, and particularly if the carrier frequencyis not detected, the cloning device may switch to one or more forms ofFrequency-Shift Keying (FSK) modulation, and may then check whethermeaningful output is produced by the de-modulator unit.

Additionally or alternatively, determining the modulation scheme maytake into account (or may be based on) user input which indicates thetype of appliance that is being controlled or that is intended to becontrolled via the cloning device, and/or taking into account one ormore predefined rules or conditions, and/or utilizing a lookup table.For example, in some embodiments, the cloning device may bepre-configured such that if the user indicates that the appliance typeis a “ceiling fan”, then the modulation scheme is OOK or ASK (andoptionally, measurement of average RSSI may enable to confirm OOK/ASKmodulation, and/or to distinguish between OOK and ASK). In contrast, ifthe user indicates that the appliance type is “garage door opener”, thenthe modulation scheme is FSK. Accordingly, user input with regard to thetype of the appliance, may be used by the system for eliminatingmodulation schemes and/or for narrowing-in on the suitable modulationscheme and/or for increasing the level of confidence of the system in anestimated modulation scheme.

Additionally or alternatively, the cloning device may detect or estimatethe modulation scheme based on the Carrier Detection Frequency (not tobe confused with the Carrier Frequency). For example, if the cloningdevice is scanning the spectrum or is listening to wireless signals inorder to detect properties of a proprietary RC unit of a ceiling fan,and finds multiple frequencies, then this may indicate that a SpreadSpectrum modulation (or Frequency Modulation (FM scheme) is used;thereby eliminating OOK and ASK modulation, and thereby switching to(and narrowing down the search to) FSK modulation schemes.

Some embodiments of the present invention may collect and/or analyzeand/or parse FCC-data, obtained from a Federal Communications Commission(FCC) repository or website, and/or from a repository or website of amanufacturer of the appliance, and/or from a repository or website of avendor or merchant that sells the appliance, and/or from other publicsources and/or proprietary sources (e.g., from a privately-owneddatabase); for example, based on the data that is included in the FCCmarking or label that may be printed on or affixed to the conventionalremote control.

In a demonstrative example, the appliance may be a wireless ceiling fan;and may be associated with a proprietary wireless RF remote control unitable to control the ceiling fan through a non-IR, radio frequencysignal. The conventional RC unit, and/or the appliance itself, and/or apackaging or a manual or a specification-sheet thereof, or a website ordatabase of the FCC or the manufacturer or the vendor, may include alabel or a printing or data that associates between the actual appliance(e.g., “Ceiling Fan model 2015-B”) with a particular FCC license orapproval or file number or FCC registration number (FRN) or FCCidentification number (FIN) of FCC identification number (FCC-ID orFCCID) (for example, “FCC ID 987654”). The system of the presentinvention may scan such information (e.g., by asking the user to take aphoto of the conventional remote control and/or the appliance and/ortheir label and/or their manual), or may obtain it from the user (e.g.,by asking the user to type or to provide the FCC number that the usersees on his appliance or remote control), or may otherwise obtain theFCC number; and the system may proceed to autonomously fetch, downloador obtain the full or the partial FCC record or FCC file, and may parseor analyze the obtained data to uncover the carrier frequency or otherRF characteristics that may be used for re-constructing a cloned RFsignal. These operations may be performed via an FCC-LabelScanner/Reader 214, able to scan or read or image such FCC-data label;and/or via an FCC-Label Analyzer 215, able to perform Optical CharacterRecognition (OCR) on the acquired label image; and/or via a DataFetching Module 216 able to query one or more databases or websites, andable to download or receive from such website(s), the informationcorresponding to such appliance identified by the FCC label, andparticularly data about the wireless signal (e.g., frequency, carrierfrequency) that may then be utilized in order to generate or toreconstruct a compatible wireless signal for wirelessly controlling suchappliance.

In another embodiment, the user may utilize the controlling device(e.g., smartphone, tablet) in order to manually enter (e.g., by typing,by speech or voice input) the FCC data or FCC identifier, which may thenbe used for fetching or obtaining additional data that is used forre-generation of a compatible wireless signal that controls theappliance. Optionally, a speech-to-text converter or module may be usedto enable such voice-based entry of data by the user.

In another embodiment, the user may utilize the controlling device(e.g., smartphone, tablet) in order to manually answer questions (e.g.,by typing, or by voice or speech) that enable the system to identify themake and model of the appliance to be controlled. For example, the usermay firstly be asked by the App on his smartphone, “is this a CeilingFan or an Air Conditioner?” and may provide his response (“CeilingFan”); the user is then asked “is the brand of this ceiling fan AdamsonFans, or Barbara Fans, or Charles Fans?”, and the user then selects therelevant make (“Barbara Fans”); then, the user is asked “is this athree-blade fan or a four-blade fan?”; then, the user is asked “doesyour original Remote Control unit have three buttons or four buttons?”;and so forth, thereby enabling the system to pin-point the particularmodel of appliance that is intended to be controlled wirelessly.

The system may support these modes of operation, which may rely (inwhole, or in part) on some type of data entry by the user, in case thedetection of the RF signal cannot be done correctly (e.g., due tointerferences, or due to a weak transmitter of the conventional RC unit,or even due to the absence (e.g., loss) of the original RC unit). Forexample, the user may enter through the App, the FCC code that is shownon the back of his conventional remote control unit or appliance. TheApp may automatically search the web or the Internet or other sourcesfor the carrier frequency and modulation type that is used by thisremote control or by this appliance; and this information may be used bythe cloning device to re-construct or to generate, subsequently, acloned wireless RF signal to wirelessly control the appliance.

The system may optionally have an API that may enable integration to anysuitable Home Automation platform or system or dashboard; and/or mayallow third-party developers to provide further interactions and/orfunctionalities to the device(s) of the system.

FIGS. 3A and 3B are schematic block-diagram illustrations of AdditionalModules 300A and 300B, respectively, in accordance with somedemonstrative embodiments of the invention. One or more, or some, orall, of the Additional Modules 300A and/or 300B may be comprised insystem 100 of FIG. 1, and/or in one or more of the devices of system100, and/or in the Cloning Device 200 of FIG. 2.

Optionally, the system may comprise a wind-chill self-adjustingthermostat 301. For example, the system may use its knowledge of theceiling fan status, and may combine or fuse such information with theA/C temperature setting and/or the actual room temperature (e.g., assensed by a sensor or thermometer of the system). A conventional ceilingfan has one-way radio communication (namely, receive-only to receive anincoming signal indicating a command, and no transmit); and thereforeits status and wind generation is generally unknown to conventionalsystems. In contrast, the system of the present invention may utilize athermometer 302 which may be provided within the fan and/or may bemounted on or near the fan (e.g., as an accessory), and may be a Wi-Fienabled thermometer, or a thermometer that may be read remotely; suchthat a Wi-Fi enabled controller of a nearby A/C unit may be controlledby the system of the present invention, thereby reducing its temperatureto achieve the same effect of lower temperature on the users.

The system may thus enable to “bridge the gap” between a conventionalCeiling Fan, that does not provide or transmit output about itsoperation; and an A/C unit that may take into account the current and/orthe past operational properties of the ceiling fan in order to adjustthe A/C operational properties. Accordingly, the system save energyconsumption and may reduce costs to the end-user, by detecting that theceiling fan is operational, and in response, sending a wireless signalor other command to an A/C unit or system, commanding such A/C unit orsystem to reduce its operational effort, or to go into power-savingmode, or to increase by one degree (or by N degrees) its targettemperature that is intended to be reached or to be held. Additionallyor alternatively, for example, the system may detect that the ceilingfan is non-operational, and in response, may send a wireless signal orother command to an A/C unit or system, commanding such A/C unit orsystem to increase its operational effort, or to exit from power-savingmode or from standby mode, or to decrease by one degree (or by Ndegrees) its target temperature that is intended to be reached or to beheld. Such operations may be performed by an Air Conditioner PropertiesModifier 303, based on the operational status and/or the operationalproperties of the ceiling fan; and such data may optionally bedetermined and/or provided by the Duplicator or the Cloning Device,which may determine the current status of the ceiling fan since, forexample, the Duplicator or the Cloning Device had recently transmitted acommand to the ceiling fan (e.g., an activation command, a de-activationcommand, a command to modify speed or other operational property).

The present invention may utilize one or more sensors in order toimprove one-way radio communication among multiple devices or appliances(e.g., in a home, or office, or other venue).

The Applicant has realized that in a conventional system, devices may becommunicating by using one-way radio communication; for example, aceiling fan is able only to receive a command signal. Therefore, thereis no way for the system (or to a component in the system) to know if acommand was actually received and/or correctly executed by the CeilingFan; as there is no “ACK” or “NACK” response transmitted by the ceilingfan, or received from the ceiling fan.

The system of the present invention may use multiple sensors 304 (e.g.,a light sensor 305) to complement or to supplement or to improve theone-way radio communication, and/or to provide indication with regard towhether a transmitted wireless command was indeed received by theintended device and/or acted-upon by the intended device or appliance.

For example, if a ceiling fan command to turn on the light waswirelessly sent, by a dedicated RC unit of the ceiling fan or by anothercontrolling device (e.g., smartphone or tablet, aided by the CloningDevice), then an ambience sensor or light sensor may measure or maysense the light in the room before and after the command was wirelesslysent to the ceiling fan; if the light level did not change at all, ordid not change by at least a pre-defined threshold value (e.g., did notincrease by at least 10% or K percent of lumens), then the system maydetermine that the command was not correctly received by the ceilingfan, and may operate to re-send the wireless command (e.g., at least Kadditional times, with time intervals of N milliseconds) until thesystem senses that the light turns on; or until a threshold number offailed attempts is reached. This mechanism may be implemented by usingan Implicit Feedback Detector 306, which may be comprised in the cloningdevice 200, and which may deduce or may determine, indirectly, feedbackwith regard to whether or not a wireless command was indeed receivedand/or executed, without receiving direct ACK or NACK or other directfeedback from the commanded device, but rather, based on externalmeasurement or sensing of changes to the environment.

In another example, an imager 307 or camera may be used by the cloningdevice, in order to acquire images or video of the ceiling fan; and anImage Analysis Module 308 may analyze such images or video in order todetermine, for example, whether a wirelessly-transmitted “turn on”command was indeed received and executed (e.g., by detecting that theblades of the ceiling fan are displaced across multiple images); orwhether a wirelessly-transmitted “turn off” command was indeed receivedand executed (e.g., by detecting that previously-moving blades of thefan are slowing down or have stopped spinning), or whether awirelessly-transmitted command that modifies the speed of rotation wasindeed received and executed (e.g., by estimating the spinning speed,based on the location of fan blades across multiple images, as afunction of time).

In some embodiments, the user may capture an image (or a set of images,from various angles) of the Ceiling Fan (or other appliance); and theImage Analysis Module 308 may analyze the image using computer vision orby using “big data” mechanism (e.g., comparison to a database of CeilingFan images) in order to determine, based on the image(s) of the ceilingfan, the make and/or the model of the ceiling fan. For example, someceiling fans may have particularly unique shape of blades (e.g., bladesshaped as leaves of a palm tree), or blade decorations, or other uniquestructure, that may enable immediate detection and determination of suchdata based on image(s) alone; for example, a Twin Fan ceiling fan inwhich two fans are rotating perpendicularly to the ceiling and areinterconnected via a horizontal rod that is parallel to the ceiling,instead of a regular stand-alone ceiling fan which rotates within aplane that is generally parallel to the ceiling. Once the make and modelof the ceiling fan is determined via such captured image(s), a lookuptable or owner's manual or technical specification of the ceiling fanmay be utilized to extract additional information, support data, FCCidentifier, and/or other parameters, which in turn may enable the systemto fetch or to deduce the properties that are required for cloning orfor re-generating the wireless signal that controls such fan.

In another embodiment, for example, the Appliance (e.g., not necessarilya ceiling fan; such as an air conditioner, or a garage door opener) mayhave thereon a sticker or a decal or an embossing that shows the makeand/or model information, which can be extracted via computer visionalgorithms from image(s) of the appliance.

In yet another embodiment, the Appliance may have a unique 2-D or 3-Ddesign or structure or features (e.g., particular colors, or particularrods or pins or protrusions or cavities), which may allow a computervision algorithm or a search-by-image algorithm to determine the makeand model based on such imaged features.

In still another embodiment, the user may capture (e.g., via hissmartphone or tablet) an image or a set of images of the proprietary(original) RC unit of the appliance; and may send or upload suchimage(s) to the cloning device and/or to a remote server; which, inturn, may utilize computer vision algorithms and/or image comparisonand/or search-by-image algorithms in order to identify the particular RCunit and/or the particular appliance that is controlled via that RCunit. For example, an image of a proprietary RC unit may show a stickeror a label or an embossing of “Texas Fans, Model 1506”, and imageanalysis may extract such make and mode numbers and may utilize them forfetching the required properties for constructing a compatible wirelesssignal. In another example, an image of a proprietary RC unit may show adistinct feature of that RC unit; such as, that the Speed Up/Speed Downbuttons are shaped as two red triangles, and are located to the leftside of a diamond-shaped On/Off button; and this unique structure of theRC unit, once imaged and acquired, may enable the system (via computervision and/or image comparison) to determine which make and model arethe proprietary RC unit and/or the appliance that it controls.

The system may further provide automated transmitter and receiverchannel optimization. Based on the system's using of multiple sensors304 to complement a one-way radio communication channel, the system ofthe present invention may be able, over time, to improve the wirelesscommunication channel by incrementally moving the carrier frequency andmeasuring the response by the sensors or the user.

For example, if a wireless command was sent (e.g., was transmitted as awireless RF signal from the cloning device to the ceiling fan), and theuser keeps re-commanding it again and again (e.g., the user keepscommanding, via his smartphone, to turn on the appliance or the ceilingfan), then the system may determine that this is indication there areinteractions and/or interference in the communication channel, and thatthe wireless command was not properly received and/or executed; and thecloning device may optionally, from time to time, step-up or step-downor modify the transmission frequency (e.g., the carrier frequency of thecloned or re-constructed RF signal) to a slightly-modified frequency inwhich the occurrence of a “missed command” (or a command that is notacted upon) is minimal. Accordingly, repeated requests by a user toperform a particular command (e.g., “turn off ceiling fan”) via hiscontrolling device (e.g., an App on his smartphone or tablet), may beused by the cloning device to determine that the wireless signal was notproperly received and/or executed, and for modifying one or moreproperties of the wireless signal that is then re-transmitted to theceiling fan (e.g., for at least N additional attempts). This mechanismmay optionally be implemented by an Implicit User Feedback Detector 309,which may be comprised in cloning device 200.

The present invention may provide automated transmitter and receiverchannel optimization, to compensate for temperature or otherenvironmental conditions. For example, the cloning device may recordsome or all of the captured RF activity (e.g., including RF carrier andthe data payload itself) when an appliance (e.g., ceiling fan) is turnedon, and may continue to collect data on “missed commands” that weretransmitted as RF signals but were not acted upon. The system maydetermine that a “missed command” is associated with the temperaturethat is sensed inside or near the ceiling fan, which may not beadequately measured by (or, may not be identical to) the temperaturethat is actually measured by an external sensor that measures thegeneral room temperature. As a result, the system of the presentinvention may uniquely determine to offset the frequency of the wirelessRF signal, in order to correct for receiver drift based on the length oftime the appliance is running; thereby compensating for receiver driftthat is caused, for example, by internal heating-up of the appliancethat is being wirelessly and remotely commanded. These operations may beperformed by an Appliance Wireless Receiver Drift Estimator 310, whichmay estimate or determine a frequency drift of the wireless receiver of(or within) the ceiling fan (or other controlled appliance), taking intoaccount sensed temperature at or within or near the ceiling fan and/orsensed ambient temperature in the room (or only one of theseparameters); and/or by a Transmitter Frequency Compensator/Modifier 311which may modify the RF wireless signal of the transmitter of thecloning device based on such remotely-estimated receiver drift in orderto compensate for such drift.

The present invention may provide a multi-system control of combined IRand RF devices and/or signals. For example, the system may enableautonomous and automatic conversion of an IR controlled device to becomean RF controlled device; by cloning the IR control scheme, andpositioning an IR transmitter with RF receiver on top of the appliance'sIR receiver. The conversion device may be transparent to IR wave length,and therefore does not interfere with the operation of theconventional/proprietary IR remote control unit which would continue tobe operational; while at the same time, the conversion device may allowthe user to control the appliance by using an RF signal (and not only byusing an IR signal), from another room, or from a location that does nothave a line-of-sight between the user and the appliance's receiver.Optionally, the implementation may utilize a sticker or other mechanism;or a mechanism to affix or attach or mount the conversion device to theappliance. These features may be implemented, for example, by adheringor attaching an “IR-only to IR+RF Converter” 312 unit or adapter to (ornear, or on) the IR receiver of the ceiling fan; which may allow IRsignals to pass through it to the original IR receiver of the ceilingfan; and may also comprise an RF receiver to receive an incoming RFsignal, and a processor to analyze the incoming RF signal, and atransmitter (e.g., an IR transmitter, or a wired transmitter) totransmit the suitable signal to the ceiling fan or to its circuitrybased on the incoming wireless RF signal.

The present invention may allow voice activation of appliances thattypically have only one-way radio communication capability. For example,the conversion device/cloning device of the present invention mayconnect to a smartphone App, and may utilize a service such as Apple'sSiri or other speech recognition (SR) engine, thereby enablingtranslation of uttered voice or uttered speech of a user, to a commandthat is translated to a suitable RF signal or IR signal that in turn istransmitted wirelessly to the target appliance and commands it to modifyits operation.

The present invention may further comprise a method and system fordetecting whether an appliance, or its remote control unit, operate byusing RF wave-length or IR wave-length. This may be achieved by one ormore mechanisms, as described herein; and may be implemented, forexample, by an RF-or-IF Detector unit 313.

In a first embodiment, for example, the system may utilize video cameraor imager or still camera (e.g., optionally embedded within a smartphoneor tablet or other device), which may detect visually the red LED in (orof) an Infra-Red remote control transmitter; and may thus classify theremote control unit (and/or the communication channel) as an Infra-Redunit and channel.

In a second embodiment, such imager or sensor may operate to actually“see” the slight light that is emitted by some remote control units thatoperate in the Infra-Red spectrum but may still be visible to somehighly-sensitive sensors or imagers (e.g., particularly in a very darkroom; for example, when the user utilizes an IR remote control unit atnight-time to modify an appliance operation).

In a third embodiment, the system may measure the output power of two(or more) receivers at the same time; may compare the RF power outputwith the IR power output; and based on the power output determinewhether an IR communication channel is used or an RF communicationchannel is used.

Some embodiments may utilize a cloning device or conversion device orsignal reconstruction device, or receiver or transmitter or transceiver,or signal analyzer or signal recorder, which may optionally beimplemented as a dedicated, stand-alone, device which may communicatewith the appliance and/or with other units of the system, and maycommunicate with the user about various commands execution (e.g., turnon, turn off, deeming, flickering, or the like).

Some embodiments may allow the system, or a remote manufacturer of anappliance (e.g., a manufacturer of an air conditioning unit or a ceilingfan), to check remotely the battery strength level of the internalbattery of an RF-based wireless remote control unit that is located atthe end-user's home.

The Applicant has realized that the RF power output may be measured; andtherefore, if the RF remote control unit does not seem to work, then themanufacturer or vendor or other supporting entity may remotely estimatethe battery strength in order to determine whether the remote controlunit is at fault, or whether the appliance (that needs to be controlled)is at fault. For example, the cloning device may measure the RF poweroutput during the cloning process, and may store this value forsubsequent comparison purposes. Subsequently, if the user complains thatthe RF-based remote control unit does not seem to work properly, thenthe cloning device may measure the actual RF output power and compare itto the pre-stored value, to determine if the internal battery of theRF-based remote control unit is weak, or depleted, or conversely if itis strong and thus the appliance is at fault. Similarly, the systemand/or the cloning device may remotely detect other faults of theRF-based remote control unit, by measuring and comparing the RFfrequency (e.g., to detect frequency drift); and/or to debug the RFcommunication channel between the RF-based remote control unit and theappliance. These operations may be performed, for example, by an RFOutput Power Measurer 314, operating in conjunction with an ApplianceFault Estimator 315 and a Weak RC Battery Estimator 316.

Some embodiments of the present invention may be able to collect orobtain or download data from a remote/third-party database (e.g., FCCdatabase), based on the remote control FCC marking—such that (in someimplementations) no training/cloning would be needed in order toreplicate or duplicate or generate or re-construct a suitable remotecontrol signal that would control the appliance (e.g., ceiling fan,smart-home device or appliance, or the like).

For example, the device may be able to use a database and/or to useorganic search of FCC ID, and thus acquire or obtain the centralfrequency. The new capability may become available since, for example,most or many transmitters use a range of 16 possible codes per device orper appliance. Some embodiments may utilize or leverage a network effector a “wisdom of the crowd”, of multiple users entering their FCC codes(e.g., at different times and locations, nationwide or worldwide) andthen training/cloning their remote control units. The next time that anew user plugs in or enters or provides his FCC code to the system, notraining is required, and the device (e.g., the cloning unit) of thepresent invention may utilize a search (e.g., binary search) to shortenthe time it finds the right address. The user may indicate to thesmartphone app, that the Ceiling Fan (or other appliance) was indeedcontrolled by the cloning unit, and such user confirmation may indicateto the cloning unit that the right code was indeed found andsuccessfully employed.

Once the cloning device has a control word associated with FCC code, thepreamble may be isolated. Additionally or alternatively, the transmitter“address” may be removed, and only the bare control word may be storedand/or utilized. This may enable the cloning unit to search through 16different addresses (e.g., maximum 8 iterations using a binary searchalgorithm), and to interact with the user to identify what was theaddress that actually enabled to control the appliance.

For example, two ceiling fans of the same make and the same model, mayhave a different Device Address (e.g., a four-bit number or string, thatis part of the preamble of the wireless signal, or is part of thepayload of the wireless signal), and that is hard-coded or soft-codedinto the ceiling fan and sets it apart from neighboring devices (e.g.,to ensure that user Adam is controlling his own ceiling fan, and not theceiling fan in his neighbor's house). Based on the make and model, thesystem of the present invention may determine the range of DeviceAddresses that characterizes such type of fan (e.g., four-bit address,which is equivalent to 16 possible address permutations); and the systemmay utilize an iterative process in which it attempts to control theceiling fan by utilizing one possible address at a time and by askingthe user to provide a feedback response of whether or not the ceilingfan was indeed controlled. The user's feedback allows the system tolock-in on the particular Device Address of that particular ceiling fan;and such Device Address is then inserted or pasted or injected into thepreamble and/or the payload of further, other, wireless signals that aretransmitted by the cloning device and are targeted to that particularfan.

In a demonstrative example: (A) The user enters the FCC code (of theproprietary/original Remote Control unit of the ceiling fan) into thesmartphone app, which communicates with the cloning device; or, the userscans or captures an image of the FCC label. (B) The system (e.g., thecloning device, and/or the smartphone directly) is checking if this FCCcode is recognized. (C) If it is recognized, then the cloning devicechecks if any user at any given time (in the past) had already recordeda remote control signal for this particular FCC code or FCC identifier;by querying a local or a remote database ofalready-recorded/already-analyzed wireless signals that correspond toalready-entered FCC codes/identifiers. (D) If it was already recorded inthe past, then the cloning device may communicate through the SmartphoneApp with the user, to look at the device; and it will search through the16 states of the potential address, searching for the right address. (E)After every try (for example, maximum of 8 attempts), the cloning deviceasks the user if it was successful in communicating with the appliance(ceiling fan); and if so, then that address is the suitable one for thatparticular appliance. The above features may be implemented, forexample, via a FCC-Based Address Stepping Unit 317, which may utilize aDatabase of Already-Analyzed FCC-Based Wireless Signals 318 storing suchdata and querying it (e.g., via a query unit).

In a demonstrative example, the cloning device may fetch, download, orotherwise obtain FCC-based data, based on FCC identifier and/or FCClabel and/or based on make-and-model of the appliance to be controlled.The fetched data may be or may comprise, for example, a record or astring or a set of data-items, or a set of strings, such as (shown herewith semi-colon separators, for demonstrative purposes): “Fan-MakerCompany Ltd.; Taichung; Taiwan; KUJ9302; Sep. 20, 2004; 299.6; 299.6”.

The cloning device may extract parameters from such record or set ofdata-items. For example, the data-item “KUJ9302” indicates the FCCidentifier; in which the sub-string “KUJ” is an identifier of the maker(manufacturer). The two last data-items, for example, indicate the startfrequency (299.6 MHz) and the end frequency (299.6 MHz), respectively,for the wireless communications of that particular appliance model. Inthis example, the cloning device detects that the extracted startfrequency is identical to the extracted end frequency; indicating thatthis is Amplitude Modulation (AM), such as OOK or ASK, and eliminatingFM or other types of candidate modulations. In contrast, if the endfrequency is different from the start frequency, in the FCC extracteddata-set, then the cloning device determines that Frequency Modulation(FM) is utilized, such as FSK (e.g., GFSK, MSK, GMSK, AFSK).

In some embodiments, once the end/start/central/carrier frequency isextracted or fetched, the frequency range may be scanned andlistened-to; and there is a minimal or no risk that the signal would notbe properly recorded (e.g., due to noise or due to distance of the userfrom the cloning device).

Additionally or alternatively, once the central frequency and themodulation type are determined, the wireless receiver of the cloningdevice may be further fine-tuned based on the already-known parameters,in order to further improve signal reception and recording quality.

Additionally or alternatively, extraction of the FCC identifier of themanufacturer and/or the particular model number, may allow the cloningdevice to rapidly query a local database (or locally-stored lookuptable) and/or a remote database (e.g., a cloud-stored database, or aremote server), and to fetch from such database a full set ofalready-known signals or commands, or to fetch the relevant family ofappliances or models that this particular appliance belongs to; andthen, the cloning device may conclude the cloning process by extractingthe particular address of the signal when the user clicks on theproprietary RC unit of the appliance.

Additionally or alternatively, once the family of appliance models isknown, the cloning device further determines what type of payload,modulation and frequency are needed in order to operate the appliance(e.g., based on the type of device, such as ceiling fan, airconditioner, garage door opener, or the like); and once the particularaddress is known, the address string may be pasted or inserted into suchpayload that is already known for this device, and the cloning processmay be concluded.

Some embodiments may comprise an On-The-Fly RF Signal Detection andCharacterization Unit 319, using a Smartphone App and a server (e.g., acloud-based server), to enable a One-click full detection process;optionally utilizing a User defined RF database.

Some embodiments of the present invention may record and demodulateunknown RF signals. The Unknown RF signal may be recorded using hardwarethat connect to WI-FI or Bluetooth or BLE or Thread or Zigbee or othersuitable wireless communication link(s) or network(s), the recordedand/or analyzed data (of the received wireless signal, received from aproprietary RC unit) may be transmitted to a cloud-based database orother remote database.

The User is using a smartphone device in order to control the RFrecording hardware. Once the data is stored in the cloud-basedrepository, the server or cloud agent may perform comparing of the datarecorded to a large database containing other RF signals that had beenrecorded by other users at different times and/or locations (e.g.,nationwide, worldwide).

The comparison is not a one-to-one comparison, since some elements suchas address may be different between each RF signal of each different RCunit; however, the preamble and the data transmitted (the payload) maybe the same across different RC units of the same model and brand ofceiling fan (or appliance). The algorithm for comparison or matching mayuse machine learning techniques in order to identify which parts of thesignal should be regarded as payload data and as preamble, based on thislarge sample of wireless signals in the database.

Furthermore, the algorithm may have the ability to ignore glitches inthe data. The sampling rate of the data is much higher than the datarate; and therefore some samples might show or may include a wrongvalue. In addition to de-glitching methods which may be used, a “bigdata” algorithm may be based on similarity comparison and makes thedecision of which is the right demodulated pattern based on previouslysampled and confirmed recorded signals that were already provided to thecloud repository by other users.

Once a determination is made to which family/vendor/FCC-related-codethis wireless communication signal belongs, the system generates therest of the functions related to this particular wireless transmitterwithout the need to detect them. The server agent or server-side modulemay reconstruct what it estimates to be the rest of the command(s) thata transmitter of this particular family or type or model or make shouldhave (e.g., based on other users' data). This will be communicated tothe smartphone or tablet App, and may allow the user to choose (e.g.,accept, adopt) the calculated commands, or to continue and recordmanually each one of the commands for local cloning.

Some embodiments may utilize a Wrap-Around RF Recorder and Over-Writer320 controlled by a smartphone app and RF demodulator. This functionallows controlling a coded device without actually decoding the signal.For example, when recording RF signals of the proprietary RC unit of theceiling fan, a predefine storage size is reserved for the recordedsignal based on the sampling rate and the signal frequency. If theproprietary transmitter (of the proprietary RC unit of the ceiling fan)is transmitting for a long time (e.g., as determined by the user),memory can be over-loaded or filled rapidly; and if the RF signal has asignature at the end of transmission (Code, or tail code, or endingcode) which may be critical for the receiver (e.g., at the ceiling fan),then the recorded signal may not be able to have the desired effect onthe receiver (e.g., due to memory/storage limits) unless a wrap-aroundscheme is used.

For example, if the RF signal recorded carrier frequency is 300 MHz withdata rate of 4 KHz, and the sample rate used for recording is 48 KHzclock, then recording a transmission of 1 second may accumulate 48,000samples, each sample represented by 8 bits, thereby consuming memory of48 kilobytes per each such second of sampling. After the initialrecording (e.g., of the first 1 or 2 or 3 or 5 or N seconds), if the RFtransmitter signal is still present and active, the first bits that wererecorded are overwritten, in a FIFO manner or using a cyclic buffermechanism, until the RF signal is not present (stopped). RF signalpresence may be measured or detected, for example, based on ReceivedSignal Strength Indicator (RSSI) parameter or based on RSSI value orchanges at the receiver input, or by other suitable techniques.

In some embodiments, the overwriting process that overwrites on thefirst bits, should be considerate on chain of zeros and cannot cut achain of zeros short—so there is a “shift to the right” from a chain ofzeros. Before the overwrite process starts, the system may determinewhat is the modulation chain of zero length (e.g., indicating the breakbetween words), and may use that length requirement in detection of thechain of zeros before overwrite.

Optionally, the hardware may keep track of where in the memory the shiftand overwrite started; and may use that as the reference address inmemory to replay the signal. By doing so, the system may guarantee thatthe RF signal playback is following a First-In-First-Out (FIFO) scheme,hence the last coded word (e.g., signature) is played last. Othersuitable mechanisms may be utilized, and other suitable modules or unitsmay be used to implement the above; for example, cyclic buffer(s),wrap-around buffer(s), circular buffer(s), FIFO buffer(s), FIFOstack(s), buffer controller(s), memory mapper, or the like.

Some embodiments may comprise the ability to add a transmitter andreceiver outside or inside an appliance that has only a one-way radio orhas no network connectivity at all. For example, a “SmartPod” unit ofthe present invention may have WI-FI, ZigBee, ZWAVE, Thread, BLEconnectivity; and also a one way or two way proprietary RF transmit andreceive chains or modules or units that may be working on the samefrequency and may have the same modulation scheme as the embeddedappliance receiver. This allows any appliance to connect to a networkwithout being manufactured or modified to have network connectivity. The“SmartPod” power may be supplied from the electric outlet, and the unitmay be controlled via a smartphone/tablet App or via a Web-interface(e.g., via a Web browser).

Some embodiments may utilize a unique scheme for Power Harvesting andPower Consumption. For a battery operated cloning device (e.g., a “pico”device which may be power by internal battery; and which may be inwireless communication with a main Cloning Device that is connected to awall power outlet), some functions can be turned off and triggered usinga harvesting antenna. The hub (or the cloning device) may send a highpower RF signal that will be translated to a start-up trigger or anactivation trigger or a “wake up from standby mode” signal or command.

In some embodiments, the battery-operated device may need to preservepower, and will be most of the time in sleep mode or reduced-power modeor hibernation mode or stand-by mode, except when the IR signal is sentto it and/or when the RF signal is sent to it.

Some embodiments may utilize a method of designing and/or forming and/orstructuring a printed Antenna on a circuit board (e.g., Passive), thatmay harvest specific type of RF frequency in the air and may translateor convert it to a small voltage.

In some embodiments, the cloning device, prior to sending the “real” RFsignal to the battery-operated device (e.g., the “Pico” device), mayfirstly send or transmit an initial RF signal whose purpose may be, forexample, to “wake up” the Pico device and/or to enable the Pico deviceto harvest power from such RF transmission (e.g., even in the order ofmagnitude of several nano-Ampers). In some embodiments, this may beperformed only if the implementation is able to operate more effectively(e.g., from power consumption aspect) compared to just leaving thewireless receiver in the Pico device in sleep mode, continuously. Thismay be implemented via a High-Power RF Signal Transmitter 321 in themain (primary) cloning device; and via an RF Power Harvester unit 322 inthe secondary (“pico”) cloning device or unit (e.g., repeater, rangeextender, signal amplifier, re-broadcaster, signal relay unit, signalre-transmitter).

Some embodiments may utilize a unique and efficient interface, betweenwhat the user is doing with a remote control unit, and the cloningdevice hardware, and the touch-screen of the smartphone (or tablet, orother portable or handheld device). The interface may indicate to theuser that the system (e.g., the cloning device, or duplicator) is ableto acquire a high-quality and useful signal, in real time and/or in ashort period of time, and without too many iterations of trial and errorby the user.

For example, the user may click a long click on the remote controlbutton (e.g., hold-down the button in the remote control unit), and thelight on the Cloning Device may get stronger (as the user is gettingcloser, or if the system gets less interference), or the cloning devicemay otherwise indicate the progress of the acquisition or the strengthof the signal (e.g., by turning-on some LED lights in a series of LEDlights); and at the same time, the App on the smartphone (or tablet) mayshow a suitable image/light/progress bar/other indication that showswhether the signal is indeed getting stronger and/or whether the cloningdevice is ready to record the signal (and/or is actually or alreadyrecording the signal). The above features may be implemented, forexample, using a Cloning Progress Indicator Updater 323.

In a demonstrative embodiment, for example, the Cloning Device may beplugged to an electric socket or electric receptacle located in a livingroom of a residence house; whereas the user would like to clone thesignal of a remote control unit which controls an appliance (e.g., aceiling fan) that is located in a bedroom of that house. The user maycarry or bring the remote control unit, from the bedroom to the livingroom, in order to enable or facilitate the signal cloning; but then theuser may not be able to directly observe the response of the bedroomappliance to the cloned signal of the cloning device. Accordingly, thesystem's interface may resolve such situations, by providing to the usercontinuous feedback with regard to the cloning process. It is noted thatthe cloning, duplication, recording and/or analysis of the wirelesssignal of the proprietary RC unit of the ceiling fan, may require theuser to operate the proprietary RC unit of the ceiling fan in proximityto the cloning unit (e.g., in the same room of the cloning unit), butdoes not require that the ceiling fan itself would be located in thesame room (or in the same venue).

Some embodiments may utilize or may provide a unique combination ofsound and RF alarm. Some Fire alarms and other safety devices (e.g.,smoke detector, fire detector, CO detector, Radon detector), in additionto emitting alarm sounds, may also transmit an RF signal withinformation about the type of alarm or hazard that was detected. Thepresent invention may use both sound detector and RF demodulator todetermine if there is a safety hazard inside of a home or office orother venue. When a decision about the occurrence of the alarm is made,a message may be sent to a predefined smartphone or tablet or otherdevice or other pre-defined destination or recipient.

Some embodiments may utilize a method for code breaking (or cloningsignals, or duplicating signals, or re-constructing signals, or reverseengineering signals) of a proprietary RC unit of an appliance or anRC-controlled system, using a sufficiently-large data sample. Instead oftrying to break a rolling code by observing changing signals form thesame transmitter over time, some embodiments may use a large databasethat includes demodulated signals from a large base of users using thesame type of wireless transmitters. In this case the system does nothave to guess or calculate the next rolling code; and instead maygenerate a code that was working for another user using the same type oftransmitter or the same type (e.g., make and model) of RC unit orappliance.

In some embodiments, a spectrum survey module, or a Baseline ExplorationSpectrum Scanner 324 may perform spectrum scanning of the venue, priorto requesting the user to click any buttons on the proprietary RC unitof the ceiling fan (or other appliance); in order to characterize thehome environment or other venue environment with regard toalready-active or already-existing electromagnetic waves (e.g., RF wavesof a Wi-Fi router, RF signals of a Smart Television or a Bluetoothdevice, cellular signals of smartphones, RF signals, RF audio, IRsignals, microwave signals from microwave oven, existing or persistentinterference or noises, or the like). Once the exploration process iscompleted, the RF Audio and IR base-line noise(s) of the specific houseor venue are stored locally in the cloning device and/or remotely in auser profile (e.g., on a remote server or “cloud computing” repository),thereby facilitating further acquisition and cloning of RC units, andenabling the cloning device to discard or dis-regard or to filter-outsuch already-existing RF signals or noises, and to avoid a determinationthat such other already-existing signal(s) are incorrectly attributed tothe RC unit intended for cloning. Optionally, the Baseline ExplorationSpectrum Scanner 324 may re-scan and update such information,particularly when the cloning unit is idle (e.g., not performing asignal cloning process; and also, not transmitting a cloned signal).Once the cloning device is subsequently triggered to scan for a newremote RC unit for cloning (e.g., mainly RF), or to adjust to a newaudio sound, then the cloning device may skip the RF frequency of thealready-known undesired noises or signal(s), or may filter the undesiredaudio, or may otherwise take into account such already-known baselinesignals and baseline noise in the venue.

In some embodiments, a Provisioning-Based RF Matching Unit 325 may beused. For example, a remote server may collect data on already-known oralready-analyzed RC units of various appliances, thereby saving the usertime and effort in performing a manual cloning process. The particularRF transmitter of a particular proprietary RC unit, may have a differentaddress; and the server may dynamically parse or paste this data-iteminto an already-known payload structure. The Provisioning-Based RFMatching Unit 325 may operate to track a particular type of proprietaryRC unit that is being recorded and cloned by multiple different users;in such “provisioning” or “staging” phase, additional recordings areuploaded to the remote server from multiple cloning devices, havingdifferent addresses but also having similar payloads and/or similarpayload structure; and by collecting more and more of these additionalrecordings, the server may determine which bits of the packet(s) belongto the address and which bits of the packet(s) to the actual payload;thereby allowing the server to autonomously define a new family of RCunits that share the same payload (except for the unique address of eachRC unit), and thereby enabling the server and the cloning device toperform a shortened and faster cloning process in which the user needsonly to provide feedback to a series of automatic attempts that iteratethrough a set of addresses.

In some embodiments, the server may ask the user questions in order tonarrow-down into a particular sub-family or batch or series of devices;for example, a set of similar Ceiling Fans from the same manufacturers,may be called Model 1503 and Model 1504; and their main (or only)difference may be, for example, that Model 1503 has three speeds ofspinning the blades, whereas Model 1504 has four such speeds; such that,for example, their RC units have the same RF payload except for one RCunit having an additional command (“speed level 4”), or that they differby another small subset of data (e.g., “speed level 3” in one model,corresponds to “speed level 4” in the other model). In such case, thedetection process includes the server but also utilizes an interface tothe user in which the user is asked one or several questions to allowpinpointing of the particular model (e.g., “does your original RC unithave three speed levels or four speed levels?”. Optionally, the systemmay autonomously analyze the already-programmed features oralready-cloned commands, in order to further pinpoint on the precisemodel number of the appliance; for example, if the user has alreadyprogrammed (cloned) four speed levels, then the system may alreadydetermine that this is for Model 1504, and may skip the manual cloningprocess of “turn on” command and “turn off” command for that Model 1504which may already be known to the system. Accordingly, adynamically-changing cloning process may utilize machine learning and/orpre-defined criteria, to deduce additional data about the Make and/orMode of the appliance, based on already-provided answers from the user,and/or based on already-determined features of the appliance.

Some embodiments of the present invention may comprise, for example: alight-bulb or illumination unit having therein, or attached thereto, anRF transmitter and/or an RF receiver; in order to receive an incoming RFsignal (e.g., from a smartphone), and/or to transmit an RF signal to thecloning device and/or to the appliance being controlled (e.g., a ceilingfan); and optionally, such light-bulb or illumination unit may beconnected through a wired link (e.g., conductive cable or wire orhard-wire) to a control box or controller of the appliance (e.g.,ceiling fan) and may thus receive an incoming RF signal and transfer awired signal to the nearby controller of the appliance (e.g., ceilingfan). This may allow a user to easily upgrade a conventional ceilingfan, which may not have RF reception capabilities, into an RF-connectedor RF-receiving ceiling fan (or other device).

In some embodiments, optionally, the RF receiver and/or RF transmitterneed not be inside the light-bulb, but rather may be mounted on (orattached to, or connected to, or added to) a base or socket orfemale-member, into which such light-bulb is inserted or is threaded orattached; and optionally, a wired link may then transfer a wired signalto the controller of such ceiling fan or other appliance.

Some embodiments may implement a novel Virtual Dimmer Module 326, or a“Dimmer from the Cloud” function, which enables a user to utilize asmartphone or tablet in order to dim, or to modify a dimmer setting, ofa light fixture or other light bulb (e.g., a light bulb or anillumination unit of a Ceiling Fan). For example, a ceiling fan may havean integrated light bulb, and a wall-mounted dimmer rotation dial thatshould be manually rotated in order to dim-up or dim-down the level oflight. The cloning device may be able to clone and to transmit wirelesssignals to the ceiling fan, commanding the ceiling fan to dim-up ordim-down the level of light; however, the cloning device may notnecessarily receive feedback from the ceiling fan, since a conventionalceiling fan may not necessarily have any transmission capability, andmay be a receiver-only appliance. Additionally, the cloning device doesnot physically rotate the wall-mounted dimmer dial. In order to solvethese obstacles, the Virtual Dimmer Module 326 may continue to send a“dim-down by one increment” command, repeatedly, as long as the userkeeps holding-down/touching an on-screen dimmer-down interface; andsimilarly, the Virtual Dimmer Module 326 may continue to send a “dim-upby one increment” command, repeatedly, as long as the user keepsholding-down/touching an on-screen dimmer-up interface. Instead ofreceiving RF feedback from the ceiling fan, the feedback loop is closedby the fact that the user stopped holding-down (or touching) theon-screen dimmer emulator, thereby indicating to the cloning device thatthe target dimming level has been reached at the ceiling fan's lightbulb.

In some embodiments, the cloning device may generate and may utilize aplayback of raw wireless signal “as recorded”, even if such recordedsignal is partially corrupted or comprises some incorrect data therein,since even such partially-correct recorded signal may be sufficientlyuseful in order to command the ceiling fan (or other appliance).Optionally, an error-free, clean, uncorrupted signal may be generatedfrom scratch by the cloning device, for example, based on FCC basedidentification of the RC unit, and/or based on user feedback thatenables the system to pinpoint the particular make and model of theappliance being controlled.

Some embodiments may perform and/or may utilize detection of data ratein OOK and/or ASK modulation, via a Data-Rate Detector/Decimation Unit327. For example, the server may obtain the digital data of the acquiredsignal (being cloned) after the wireless receiver of the cloning device(and the associated circuitry, filters, amplifiers, noise reducers,demodulator) had operated and performed signal demodulation. Due to theutilization (e.g., by the wireless receiver of the cloning device) ofRSSI-based values as a threshold for signal detection, the length of the“0” bit and/or the “1” bit may vary, and may not be constant acrossdifferent RC units being cloned. Additionally or alternatively, somemodulation schemes (e.g., OOK or ASK), without a special code orencoding scheme (e.g., Manchester coding, or Phase Encoding (PE) scheme)may not necessarily include therein clock recovery information. Thesystem of the present invention (e.g., the cloning device, or the remoteserver) may determine autonomously the length of the average “0” that iswithin the expected data rate, and the length of the average “1”, andmay then use this information in the decimation of the RF payload or indivision of the RF payload into discrete data-items. Such decimation maybe important; for example, if the wireless receiver of the cloningdevice produces a payload with consistently shorter “0” and consistentlylonger “1”, absent the correct decimation the cloning unit mayincorrectly determine whether 30 clocks of “0” represent five zero orsix zeros, or the like.

Some embodiments may utilize a staging process, performed remotely in aremote server or at a “cloud computing” unit, when a wireless signal ofan unknown remote control unit is being recorded locally. For example,the local device may upload the recorded signal to the remote server;which in turn may wait for other users to record (and upload) signals ofthe same remote control unit (in other venues and locations). The servermay autonomously determine and/or detect, based on matching and/orsignal analysis, which parts of the uploaded signal(s) are preamble, orthe Address, or the Payload, or a rolling code (or other properties thatare common to the uploaded signals). Once the remote server determinesthat it has sufficient matches or sufficient information, the server maydefine this type of remote control units as a “new family” of remotecontrol units, which then allows a subsequent user to avoid recordingall (or some) wireless control functions of such remote control unitfrom such determined family.

Some embodiments, may utilize a “soft” decision process, or asufficiently-close decision process, or a fuzzy-logic decision process.For example, since RF recording may sometimes have errors, a remoteserver may utilize a confidence estimator, and may search all the knownpayloads of relevant signals, searching for a match with acurrently-recorded or currently-uploaded signal. If the server finds apayload that is at least K percent identical (e.g., K being 85 or 90 or95, or other suitable value) relative to the recorded and uploadedsignal, then the server may offer to the user a set or an entiredashboard of wireless controls for that “sufficiently close” candidateceiling fan; the user may attempt to operate the ceiling fan based onsignals that are generated locally based on the candidate data receivedfrom the serve; and if the proposed wireless signals indeed operate theuser's ceiling fan, then the system prevents a situation in which theuser needs to record every relevant wireless command just because thelocal recording was “close” to a candidate already-known signal, but notexactly identical to it.

Some embodiments may comprise, for example: a system as describedherein; a method as described herein; a sensor as described herein; acloning device or duplicator unit as described herein; a remote controlunit; an application for a smartphone/tablet/portable device, asdescribed herein; an appliance comprising one or more of the unitsdescribed herein; an air conditioning device comprising one or more ofthe units described herein; a ceiling fan comprising one or more of theunits described herein; a kit for converting a one-way communicationappliance, into a smart RF-connected or Internet-connected appliance; akit for converting a one-way communication air conditioning device, intoa smart RF-connected or Internet-connected air conditioning device; akit for converting a one-way communication ceiling fan, into a smartRF-connected or Internet-connected ceiling fan; a light bulb having anintegrated wireless receiver and/or an integrated wireless transmitterand/or an integrated wired transmitter, to upgrade a conventionalceiling fan (or a light-fixture) into an RF-controlled device.

Although portions of the discussion herein relate, for demonstrativepurposes, to wired links and/or wired communications, some embodimentsare not limited in this regard, and may include one or more wired orwireless links, may utilize one or more components of wirelesscommunication, may utilize one or more methods or protocols of wirelesscommunication, or the like. Some embodiments may utilize wiredcommunication and/or wireless communication.

The system(s) of the present invention may optionally comprise, or maybe implemented by utilizing suitable hardware components and/or softwarecomponents; for example, processors, processor cores, Central ProcessingUnits (CPUs), Digital Signal Processors (DSPs), circuits, IntegratedCircuits (ICs), controllers, memory units, registers, accumulators,storage units, input units (e.g., touch-screen, keyboard, keypad,stylus, mouse, touchpad, joystick, trackball, microphones), output units(e.g., screen, touch-screen, monitor, display unit, audio speakers),microphone(s) and/or sensor(s), wired or wireless modems or transceiversor transmitters or receivers, GPS receiver or GPS element or otherlocation-based or location-determining unit or system, network elements(e.g., routers, switches, hubs, antennas), and/or other suitablecomponents and/or modules.

The system(s) of the present invention may optionally be implemented byutilizing co-located components, remote components or modules, “cloudcomputing” servers or devices or storage, client/server architecture,peer-to-peer architecture, distributed architecture, and/or othersuitable architectures or system topologies or network topologies.

In accordance with embodiments of the present invention, calculations,operations and/or determinations may be performed locally within asingle device, or may be performed by or across multiple devices, or maybe performed partially locally and partially remotely (e.g., at a remoteserver) by optionally utilizing a communication channel to exchange rawdata and/or processed data and/or processing results.

Embodiments of the present invention may be utilized with a variety ofdevices or systems having a touch-screen or a touch-sensitive surface;for example, a smartphone, a cellular phone, a mobile phone, asmart-watch, a tablet, a handheld device, a portable electronic device,a portable gaming device, a portable audio/video player, an AugmentedReality (AR) device or headset or gear, a Virtual Reality (VR) device orheadset or gear, a “kiosk” type device, a vending machine, an AutomaticTeller Machine (ATM), a laptop computer, a desktop computer, a vehicularcomputer, a vehicular dashboard, a vehicular touch-screen, or the like.

The system(s) and/or device(s) of the present invention may optionallycomprise, or may be implemented by utilizing suitable hardwarecomponents and/or software components; for example, processors,processor cores, Central Processing Units (CPUs), Digital SignalProcessors (DSPs), circuits, Integrated Circuits (ICs), controllers,memory units, registers, accumulators, storage units, input units (e.g.,touch-screen, keyboard, keypad, stylus, mouse, touchpad, joystick,trackball, microphones), output units (e.g., screen, touch-screen,monitor, display unit, audio speakers), acoustic microphone(s) and/orsensor(s), optical microphone(s) and/or sensor(s), laser or laser-basedmicrophone(s) and/or sensor(s), wired or wireless modems or transceiversor transmitters or receivers, GPS receiver or GPS element or otherlocation-based or location-determining unit or system, network elements(e.g., routers, switches, hubs, antennas), and/or other suitablecomponents and/or modules.

The system(s) and/or devices of the present invention may optionally beimplemented by utilizing co-located components, remote components ormodules, “cloud computing” servers or devices or storage, client/serverarchitecture, peer-to-peer architecture, distributed architecture,and/or other suitable architectures or system topologies or networktopologies.

In accordance with embodiments of the present invention, calculations,operations and/or determinations may be performed locally within asingle device, or may be performed by or across multiple devices, or maybe performed partially locally and partially remotely (e.g., at a remoteserver) by optionally utilizing a communication channel to exchange rawdata and/or processed data and/or processing results.

Some embodiments may be implemented by using a special-purpose machineor a specific-purpose device that is not a generic computer, or by usinga non-generic computer or a non-general computer or machine. Such systemor device may utilize or may comprise one or more components or units ormodules that are not part of a “generic computer” and that are not partof a “general purpose computer”, for example, cellular transceivers,cellular transmitter, cellular receiver, GPS unit, location-determiningunit, accelerometer(s), gyroscope(s), device-orientation detectors orsensors, device-positioning detectors or sensors, or the like.

Some embodiments may be implemented as, or by utilizing, an automatedmethod or automated process, or a machine-implemented method or process,or as a semi-automated or partially-automated method or process, or as aset of steps or operations which may be executed or performed by acomputer or machine or system or other device.

Some embodiments may be implemented by using code or program code ormachine-readable instructions or machine-readable code, which may bestored on a non-transitory storage medium or non-transitory storagearticle (e.g., a CD-ROM, a DVD-ROM, a physical memory unit, a physicalstorage unit), such that the program or code or instructions, whenexecuted by a processor or a machine or a computer, cause such processoror machine or computer to perform a method or process as describedherein. Such code or instructions may be or may comprise, for example,one or more of: software, a software module, an application, a program,a subroutine, instructions, an instruction set, computing code, words,values, symbols, strings, variables, source code, compiled code,interpreted code, executable code, static code, dynamic code; including(but not limited to) code or instructions in high-level programminglanguage, low-level programming language, object-oriented programminglanguage, visual programming language, compiled programming language,interpreted programming language, C, C++, C#, Java, JavaScript, SQL,Ruby on Rails, Go, Cobol, Fortran, ActionScript, AJAX, XML, JSON, Lisp,Eiffel, Verilog, Hardware Description Language (HDL, BASIC, VisualBASIC, Matlab, Pascal, HTML, HTML5, CSS, Perl, Python, PHP, machinelanguage, machine code, assembly language, or the like.

Discussions herein utilizing terms such as, for example, “processing”,“computing”, “calculating”, “determining”, “establishing”, “analyzing”,“checking”, “detecting”, “measuring”, or the like, may refer tooperation(s) and/or process(es) of a processor, a computer, a computingplatform, a computing system, or other electronic device or computingdevice, that may automatically and/or autonomously manipulate and/ortransform data represented as physical (e.g., electronic) quantitieswithin registers and/or accumulators and/or memory units and/or storageunits into other data or that may perform other suitable operations.

Some embodiments of the present invention may perform steps oroperations such as, for example, “determining”, “identifying”,“comparing”, “checking”, “querying”, “searching”, “matching”, and/or“analyzing”, by utilizing, for example: a pre-defined threshold value towhich one or more parameter values may be compared; a comparison between(i) sensed or measured or calculated value(s), and (ii) pre-defined ordynamically-generated threshold value(s) and/or range values and/orupper limit value and/or lower limit value and/or maximum value and/orminimum value; a comparison or matching between sensed or measured orcalculated data, and one or more values as stored in a look-up table ora legend table or a list of reference value(s) or a database ofreference values or ranges; a comparison or matching or searchingprocess which searches for matches and/or identical results and/orsimilar results and/or sufficiently-close results, among multiple valuesor limits that are stored in a database or look-up table; utilization ofone or more equations, formula, weighted formula, and/or othercalculation in order to determine similarity or a match between or amongparameters or values; utilization of comparator units, lookup tables,threshold values, conditions, conditioning logic, Boolean operator(s)and/or other suitable components and/or operations.

The terms “plurality” and “a plurality”, as used herein, include, forexample, “multiple” or “two or more”. For example, “a plurality ofitems” includes two or more items.

References to “one embodiment”, “an embodiment”, “demonstrativeembodiment”, “various embodiments”, “some embodiments”, and/or similarterms, may indicate that the embodiment(s) so described may optionallyinclude a particular feature, structure, or characteristic, but notevery embodiment necessarily includes the particular feature, structure,or characteristic. Repeated use of the phrase “in one embodiment” doesnot necessarily refer to the same embodiment, although it may. Repeateduse of the phrase “in some embodiments” does not necessarily refer tothe same set or group of embodiments, although it may.

As used herein, and unless otherwise specified, the utilization ofordinal adjectives such as “first”, “second”, “third”, “fourth”, and soforth, to describe an item or an object, merely indicates that differentinstances of such like items or objects are being referred to; and doesnot intend to imply as if the items or objects so described must be in aparticular given sequence, either temporally, spatially, in ranking, orin any other ordering manner.

Some embodiments may comprise, or may be implemented by using, an “app”or application which may be downloaded or obtained from an “app store”or “applications store”, for free or for a fee, or which may bepre-installed on a computing device or electronic device, or which maybe transported to and/or installed on such computing device orelectronic device.

In some embodiments, a device comprises: a wireless signal cloning unit,to enable a portable electronic device to wirelessly control a ceilingfan that is not necessarily in a line-of-sight of the portableelectronic device; wherein the wireless signal cloning unit comprises: afirst wireless receiver to receive a first wireless communication signalthat is transmitted by a proprietary remote control unit of said ceilingfan; a signal analysis unit to analyze a payload and a carrier frequencyof the first wireless communication signal; a signal reconstruction unitto reconstruct a second wireless communication signal, havingreconstructed payload and reconstructed carrier frequency that are atleast compatible with the payload and the carrier frequency of thesecond wireless communication signal; a second wireless receiver towirelessly receive, from said portable electronic device, a wirelesscommunication signal indicating a user-selected command that a user ofthe portable electronic device wishes to be wirelessly transmitted tosaid ceiling fan; a wireless transmitter to transmit to said ceilingfan, said second wireless communication signal, in response to saidwireless communication signal that is wirelessly received from saidportable electronic device.

In some embodiments, the signal analysis unit comprises a payload andcarrier frequency recorder unit, to record (i) an entirety of thepayload and (ii) an entirety of the carrier frequency of the firstwireless communication signal, and to store in a storage unit of thewireless signal cloning unit digital data corresponding to said entiretyof the payload and to said entirety of the carrier frequency; whereinthe signal reconstruction unit and the wireless transmitter comprise: apayload-and-carrier playback unit, to wirelessly transmit to saidceiling fan a playback of said first wireless communication signal basedon said digital data that corresponds to said entirety of the payloadand to said entirety of the carrier frequency.

In some embodiments, the signal analysis unit comprises a payload andcarrier frequency recorder unit, to record (i) an entirety of thepayload of the first wireless communication signal and (ii) a non-entirepartial portion of the carrier frequency of the first wirelesscommunication signal; and to store in a storage unit of the wirelesssignal cloning unit digital data corresponding to said entirety of said(I) entirety of the payload of the first wireless communication signaland (II) said non-entire partial portion of the carrier frequency of thefirst wireless communication signal; wherein the signal reconstructionunit and the wireless transmitter comprise: a payload-and-carrierplayback unit, to wirelessly transmit to said ceiling fan a playback ofsaid first wireless communication signal based on said digital data thatcorresponds to said entirety of said (I) entirety of the payload of thefirst wireless communication signal and (II) said non-entire partialportion of the carrier frequency of the first wireless communicationsignal.

In some embodiments, the signal analysis unit comprises: an imager tocapture an image of at least a portion of said proprietary remotecontrol unit; an image analysis unit to extract from said image, aFederal Communications Commission (FCC) identifier of said proprietaryremote control unit; a data fetching unit to obtain from a database, arecord indicating properties of said first wireless communicationsignal, based on a query that utilizes at least said FCC identifier thatwas extracted from said image; wherein the signal reconstruction unit isto reconstruct said second wireless communication signal based on saidproperties of the first wireless communication signal as obtained fromsaid database based on said query.

In some embodiments, the device comprises: a remote wireless receiverdrift estimator, to remotely estimate a frequency drift of a wirelesscommunication receiver of said ceiling fan; a transmitter frequencycompensator to modify one or more properties of the second wirelesscommunication signal to compensate for estimated frequency drift of saidwireless communication receiver of said ceiling fan.

In some embodiments, the device comprises: an Infra-Red-only toInfra-Red-and-Radio-Frequency converter, configured to be mounted ontosaid ceiling fan, (i) to allow passage of an incoming IR signal via saidconverter, and (ii) to receive a wireless RF signal and to convert it toa non-RF signal that is transferred to the ceiling fan to control theceiling fan.

In some embodiments, the device comprises: an RF output power measurer,to measure and to track changes in RF output power of the proprietaryremote control unit; an appliance fault estimator, to determine thatsaid ceiling fan is not operating properly, based on analysis of the RFoutput power of the proprietary remote control unit.

In some embodiments, the device comprises: an FCC-based Address SteppingUnit, to perform gradual stepping through a pre-defined number ofcandidate addresses that are related to a central frequency that isobtained from analysis of an FCC identifier of said proprietary remotecontrol unit of the ceiling fan; wherein the second wirelesscommunication signal is constructed based on feedback from the user,indicating whether or not utilization of a candidate address achievesproper commanding of the ceiling fan via the portable electronic device.

In some embodiments, the signal analysis unit comprises: a userinterface to receive from a user an indication of a particular FederalCommunications Commission (FCC) identifier of said proprietary remotecontrol unit; and a query module to query a database of already-analyzedFCC-based wireless signals of proprietary remote controls of ceilingfans, and to fetch from said database a set of characteristics ofwireless signals that are utilized by a particular remote control unitthat corresponds to said particular FCC identifier entered by said user;wherein the signal reconstruction unit is to reconstruct said secondwireless communication signal based on said characteristics of wirelesssignals that are utilized by said particular remote control unit thatcorresponds to said particular FCC identifier entered by said user.

In some embodiments, the signal analysis unit is to download from aremote database, a set of characteristics of wireless signals that areutilized by a particular remote control unit that corresponds to aparticular FCC identifier that is entered by said user for saidproprietary remote control unit of said ceiling fan; wherein the signalreconstruction unit is to reconstruct said second wireless communicationsignal based on said characteristics of wireless signals that aredownloaded from said remote database and that correspond to saidproprietary remote control unit.

In some embodiments, the device comprises: a wrap-around Radio Frequency(RF) recorder and over-writer unit, to record the payload and thecarrier frequency of the first wireless communication signal; to storein a FIFO buffer data corresponding to recorded information; toover-write data in said FIFO buffer as long as existence of RF signal isdetected; to stop over-writing data in said FIFO buffer upondetermination that the RF signal ceased; and to thereby ensure that atailing code of said RF signal is written in said FIFO buffer and is notover-written upon.

In some embodiments, the device comprises: a high-power RF signaltransmitter, to transmit a high-power RF signal intended for receptionby a standby-mode wireless receiver of a secondary cloning device;wherein said high-power RF signal, upon reception by said secondarycloning device, enables an RF power harvester unit of said secondarycloning device to harvest from said high-power RF signal electromagneticenergy that is sufficient for switching one or more other components ofsaid secondary cloning device from a turned-off mode to a turned-onmode.

In some embodiments, the device comprises: a real time cloning progressindicator updater, to track a progress of a signal cloning process inwhich a wireless signal of a proprietary remote control unit of aceiling fan is being cloned while the proprietary remote control unit islocated in a same room with said cloning device and while the ceilingfan is located in a different room; and to generate and to convey to theuser an indication of said progress of said signal cloning process.

In some embodiments, the device comprises: a baseline explorationspectrum scanner, (i) to perform a pre-cloning baseline scan of anelectromagnetic spectrum in a venue in which the ceiling fan is located,prior to commencing a signal cloning process in which the proprietaryremote control unit of the ceiling fan transmits any signals, and (ii)to determine a baseline of non-fan signals and ambient noises that existin said venue prior to commencement of said signal cloning process;wherein the signal analysis unit is to analyze the first wirelesscommunication signal using a signal analysis technique that skips orfilters-out said non-fan signals and ambient noises that were detectedduring said pre-cloning baseline scan.

In some embodiments, the device comprises: an image analysis module, (a)to receive one or more images of said ceiling fan; (b) to perform onsaid one or more images at least one of: (I) computer vision algorithm,(II) image comparison process, (III) search-by-image process; (c) basedon step (b), to determine a make and a model of the ceiling fan; (d)based on step (c), to obtain data corresponding to one or morecharacteristics of a wireless signal that can control said ceiling fan,wherein said data comprises at least one feature that is used toreconstruct a compatible signal capable of remotely controlling saidceiling fan.

In some embodiments, the device comprises: an image analysis module, (a)to receive one or more images of the proprietary remote control unit ofsaid ceiling fan; (b) to perform on said one or more images at least oneof: (I) computer vision algorithm, (II) image comparison process, (III)search-by-image process; (c) based on step (b), to determine a make anda model of the ceiling fan; (d) based on step (c), to obtain datacorresponding to one or more characteristics of a wireless signal thatcan control said ceiling fan, wherein said data comprises at least onefeature that is used to reconstruct a compatible signal capable ofremotely controlling said ceiling fan.

In some embodiments, the device comprises: a virtual light-dimmermodule, (a) to receive from said portable electronic device one or moresignals indicating that said user is continuously pressing an on-screendimmer interface element; (b) to wirelessly transmit to said ceilingfan, as long as said user keeps pressing said on-screen dimmer interfaceelement, wireless commands do perform incremental light-dimmingoperations; (c) to cease transmitting to said ceiling fan furtherwireless commands of incremental light-dimming operations once said userceases to press said on-screen dimmer interface.

In some embodiments, the device comprises: a data-rate detector anddecimation unit, (a) to determine a data-rate of wireless transmissionof said proprietary remote control unit that lacks clock recoveryinformation, and (b) to determine an average length of transmission of aZero value by said proprietary remote control unit, and (c) to determinean average length of transmission of a One value by said proprietaryremote control unit, and (d) to autonomously perform decimation ofcaptured data payload transmitted by said proprietary remote controlunit that lacks clock recovery information.

In some embodiments, the device comprises: a transmitter to upload to aremote server, data representing at least a partial recording of thefirst wireless communication signal that is captured by the wirelessreceiver of said device; wherein the wireless receiver of said device isto receive from said remote server, an indication that said remoteserver is currently able to provide to said device a set of wirelesssignal properties for replicating in said device the first wirelesscommunication signal, wherein said indication is based on an analysis ofsaid remote server of multiple wireless signals uploaded to said remoteserver by multiple, different, devices that said remote serverdetermined to belong to a same model of ceiling fan, and from which saidremote server is able to extract at least one of: payload data, rollingcode, address, preamble properties.

In some embodiments, wherein the signal analysis unit is configured (a)to determine that a non-exact match exists, beyond a pre-definedthreshold level of similarity, between (I) the first wirelesscommunication signal that is captured by the wireless receiver of saiddevice, and (II) an already-known candidate wireless signal that isknown to control a candidate ceiling fan; (b) to obtain from a remoteserver, data that describes a set of wireless signals that correspond towireless commands that are able to wirelessly control said candidateceiling fan; (c) to generate said second wireless communication signal,that controls said ceiling fan, by using said data that describes saidset of wireless signals that controls said candidate ceiling fan.

The present invention includes devices, systems, and methods ofwirelessly controlling appliances and electronic devices, such asceiling fans, air conditioners, garage doors, or the like. For example,a receive-only ceiling fan is wirelessly controlled by a proprietaryremote control unit. A cloning unit is able to clone or duplicate theproprietary wireless signal, and to replay it or re-generate it inresponse to a triggering command that a user submitted via a smartphoneor tablet; thereby enabling to control such appliances via mobileelectronic devices. The cloning unit utilizes recording of the wirelesssignal payload and carrier frequency; wireless signal analysis; imageanalysis of the appliance or of the remote control unit; queries to aremote server to obtain properties of the proprietary wireless signal;or other techniques of signal analysis or duplication.

Functions, operations, components and/or features described herein withreference to one or more embodiments of the present invention, may becombined with, or may be utilized in combination with, one or more otherfunctions, operations, components and/or features described herein withreference to one or more other embodiments of the present invention. Thepresent invention may thus comprise any possible or suitablecombinations, re-arrangements, assembly, re-assembly, or otherutilization of some or all of the modules or functions or componentsthat are described herein, even if they are discussed in differentlocations or different chapters of the above discussion, or even if theyare shown across different drawings or multiple drawings.

While certain features of the present invention have been illustratedand described herein, many modifications, substitutions, changes, andequivalents may occur to those skilled in the art. Accordingly, theclaims are intended to cover all such modifications, substitutions,changes, and equivalents.

What is claimed is:
 1. A device comprising: a wireless signal cloningunit, to enable a portable electronic device to wirelessly control aceiling fan that is not necessarily in a line-of-sight of the portableelectronic device; wherein the wireless signal cloning unit comprises: afirst wireless receiver to receive a first wireless communication signalthat is transmitted by a proprietary remote control unit of said ceilingfan; a signal analysis unit to analyze a payload and a carrier frequencyof the first wireless communication signal; a signal reconstruction unitto reconstruct a second wireless communication signal, havingreconstructed payload and reconstructed carrier frequency that are atleast compatible with the payload and the carrier frequency of thesecond wireless communication signal; a second wireless receiver towirelessly receive, from said portable electronic device, a wirelesscommunication signal indicating a user-selected command that a user ofthe portable electronic device wishes to be wirelessly transmitted tosaid ceiling fan; a wireless transmitter to transmit to said ceilingfan, said second wireless communication signal, in response to saidwireless communication signal that is wirelessly received from saidportable electronic device; wherein the signal analysis unit comprises:an imager to capture an image of at least a portion of said proprietaryremote control unit; an image analysis unit to extract from said image,a Federal Communications Commission (FCC) identifier of said proprietaryremote control unit; a data fetching unit to obtain from a database, arecord indicating properties of said first wireless communicationsignal, based on a query that utilizes at least said FCC identifier thatwas extracted from said image; wherein the signal reconstruction unit isto reconstruct said second wireless communication signal based on saidproperties of the first wireless communication signal as obtained fromsaid database based on said query.
 2. A device comprising: a wirelesssignal cloning unit, to enable a portable electronic device towirelessly control a ceiling fan that is not necessarily in aline-of-sight of the portable electronic device; wherein the wirelesssignal cloning unit comprises: a first wireless receiver to receive afirst wireless communication signal that is transmitted by a proprietaryremote control unit of said ceiling fan; a signal analysis unit toanalyze a payload and a carrier frequency of the first wirelesscommunication signal; a signal reconstruction unit to reconstruct asecond wireless communication signal, having reconstructed payload andreconstructed carrier frequency that are at least compatible with thepayload and the carrier frequency of the second wireless communicationsignal; a second wireless receiver to wirelessly receive, from saidportable electronic device, a wireless communication signal indicating auser-selected command that a user of the portable electronic devicewishes to be wirelessly transmitted to said ceiling fan; a wirelesstransmitter to transmit to said ceiling fan, said second wirelesscommunication signal, in response to said wireless communication signalthat is wirelessly received from said portable electronic device;wherein the signal analysis unit comprises: a user interface to receivefrom a user an indication of a particular Federal CommunicationsCommission (FCC) identifier of said proprietary remote control unit; anda query module to query a database of already-analyzed FCC-basedwireless signals of proprietary remote controls of ceiling fans, and tofetch from said database a set of characteristics of wireless signalsthat are utilized by a particular remote control unit that correspondsto said particular FCC identifier entered by said user; wherein thesignal reconstruction unit is to reconstruct said second wirelesscommunication signal based on said characteristics of wireless signalsthat are utilized by said particular remote control unit thatcorresponds to said particular FCC identifier entered by said user.
 3. Adevice comprising: a wireless signal cloning unit, to enable a portableelectronic device to wirelessly control a ceiling fan that is notnecessarily in a line-of-sight of the portable electronic device;wherein the wireless signal cloning unit comprises: a first wirelessreceiver to receive a first wireless communication signal that istransmitted by a proprietary remote control unit of said ceiling fan; asignal analysis unit to analyze a payload and a carrier frequency of thefirst wireless communication signal; a signal reconstruction unit toreconstruct a second wireless communication signal, having reconstructedpayload and reconstructed carrier frequency that are at least compatiblewith the payload and the carrier frequency of the second wirelesscommunication signal; a second wireless receiver to wirelessly receive,from said portable electronic device, a wireless communication signalindicating a user-selected command that a user of the portableelectronic device wishes to be wirelessly transmitted to said ceilingfan; a wireless transmitter to transmit to said ceiling fan, said secondwireless communication signal, in response to said wirelesscommunication signal that is wirelessly received from said portableelectronic device; wherein the signal analysis unit is to download froma remote database, a set of characteristics of wireless signals that areutilized by a particular remote control unit that corresponds to aparticular FCC identifier that is entered by said user for saidproprietary remote control unit of said ceiling fan; wherein the signalreconstruction unit is to reconstruct said second wireless communicationsignal based on said characteristics of wireless signals that aredownloaded from said remote database and that correspond to saidproprietary remote control unit.